2022 Tailteann Cup final


The 2022 Tailteann Cup final was the final of the 2022 Tailteann Cup, the first edition of the GAA's second-tier Gaelic football competition for county teams. The match was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 9 July 2022, between and. Westmeath won the match on a scoreline of 2–14 to 1–13.
John Heslin overtook Dessie Dolan as Westmeath's all-time championship top scorer in this game.

Pre-match

Scoring

Ahead of the game, the top scorer for Cavan in the 2022 Ulster SFC and Tailteann Cup was Gearóid McKiernan, while the top scorer for Westmeath in the 2022 Leinster SFC and Tailteann Cup was John Heslin.
RankPlayerTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1Gearóid McKiernan1–20 23
2Paddy Lynch0–22 22
3Raymond Galligan0–11 11
4Thomas Galligan1–710
5Gerard Smith0–1010

RankPlayerTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1John Heslin2–31 37
2Ronan O'Toole2–1016
3Sam McCartan1–1114
4Luke Loughlin0–11 11
5Lorcan Dolan2–3 9

Officials

Derry's Barry Cassidy was the referee for the final. Maurice Deegan of Laois had originally been listed to referee the final of the inaugural competition, but the GAA confirmed a change of referee on 6 July. Deegan was absent for what would have been his final inter-county game after contracting COVID-19.

Match

Team news

Both teams made one change from the match programme before the game – Niall Carolan replaced Martin Reilly for Cavan, while Sam Duncan replaced Nigel Harte on the Westmeath side.

Summary

Westmeath became the inaugural winners of the Tailteann Cup, scoring 1–4 without reply in the final 13 minutes to take the trophy.
A red card for Cavan's Thomas Galligan in the 58th minute was the turning point of the game. Cavan were leading by two, 1–13 to 1–11, when Galligan caught Westmeath's Ronan O'Toole with a high frontal shoulder. O'Toole went on to be the man-of-the-match.

Aftermath

Thousands of people came out to celebrate in Mullingar after Westmeath's victory over Cavan in the final.
The losing Cavan players received their medals at the Hotel Kilmore on 30 October 2022, alongside their Ulster winners medals from 2020.
The winning Westmeath players received their medals at the Mullingar Park Hotel on 2 December 2022, alongside medals given to the winners of the 2008 National Football League Division 2 title and the hurlers who won the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup.